Okay I Already Ranted In The Tags On Another Post About This, But I'm Having Enough Feelings About The

Okay I already ranted in the tags on another post about this, but I'm having enough Feelings about the scene in the hospital between Bruce and Alfred that it's getting its own post (I got the gifs of this from the wonderful post by @magnusedom which is, coincidentally, the post I was ranting in the tags on)

The entire scene is very emotional and features excellent acting from both Robert Pattinson and Andy Serkis, but I want to focus on Alfred's facial expressions at two particular points during the conversation:

First, when Bruce admits he doesn't care if he himself dies

This is Alfred's face directly after Bruce tells him this. The absolute HEARTBREAK- I get the sense that Alfred isn't necessarily surprised that Bruce feels this way, but suspecting something and knowing something are two very different things. Alfred has been a part of Bruce's life since he was born and raised him after his parents died. He's spent the past 20 years watching Bruce, someone he loves as a son, spiral and struggle with very clear mental health issues and the lingering effects of a very severe trauma. And more than that, Bruce has actively pushed Alfred away during this; while their relationship isn't necessarily overtly antagonistic, it's clearly very tense and fraught. Even knowing all that, Bruce is- probably for the first time- openly expressing what is AT BEST passive suicidal ideation and we see how crushing it is for Alfred to hear those words coming from Bruce himself.

And then we get this:

This is how Alfred looks at Bruce when Bruce admits that the thought of losing Alfred evokes a fear and emotional response on par with what he felt when he lost his parents. And again, given their tense relationship throughout the film up until this point, this is probably the first time Bruce has ever openly expressed this. Holy emotional confessions, Batman! The absolute love and affection and WARMTH in Alfred's expression is BEAUTIFUL, ESPECIALLY in the context of the fact that Bruce literally just admitted he doesn't care if he himself dies. Bruce is telling Alfred that, despite their disagreements and the tension in their relationship, he cares more about Alfred's life and safety than he does about his own. That's how important Alfred is to him. And we can see just how profoundly Bruce's confession impacts Alfred.

And then, after two confessions that we see profoundly emotionally impact Alfred, we get this absolutely BEAUTIFUL moment:

Bruce has just been more open and honest with Alfred than he's probably ever been in the past 20 years, about both his own pain and trauma and about how important Alfred is to him. After 20 years of reaching out only to be pushed away as Bruce struggled and spiralled, Alfred reaches out again. And, for the first time, Bruce reaches back. It's a massive and hugely important step forward in their relationship. Bruce's pain doesn't magically go away. He's still traumatized and depressed and full of so much anger and hurt and fear. But he's finally come to a place where he can accept Alfred's love and support and can admit to himself that he loves Alfred back, even if that opens him up to the potential pain and loss inherent in caring for someone. It's such an impactful moment with so much emotional depth and a huge turning point for Bruce's character, and I think Andy Serkis' acting is really an important part of what drives it home

woah danny quit your yappering,, they’re your parents,, let them take their time

You are a devout Paladin trying to prevent the resurrection of a dark goddess. Ultimately you fail. When the goddess awakens, she claims that she doesn’t know who she is or what has happened. After a few days you’re struggling to determine if she actually has amnesia or if she is just lying.

The Fentons harnessed magic with science. They actually did that. Like. They looked at something that most people would have seen as purely magical/fantastical and went nope and tore it apart from a purely scientific point of view and it actually freaking worked. They managed to isolate ectoplasm as an actual compound and used it to power stuff and shit and went crazy on ghosts, people/entities that have actually, literally, died and really went “hey what if the difference between life and death is just one dimension”. like motherfucker I think you just invented a new philosophy actually. Like!!!?!? What the hell. It blew my mind.

Yeah, what IF death is just another form of existence. Bitch, what then. What the heck.

And then they built a portal to that dimension actually. They built a portal to hell in their basement. They just went “what if we could see the afterlife” and went for it. Granted, they didn’t actually believe in it in that sense.

But if you think of it that way, it kind of makes sense that they’re so crazy ALL THE FUCKING TIME because they stared the concept of death and existentialism and mortality in the face, something that drives most humans crazy just thinking about it, so much that we went and invented a bunch of religions and philosophies to deal with that emptiness, and they CRACKED THE CODE. They had actual scientific proof of all that.

HEY IF I FIGURED OUT THE ACTUAL MEANINGLESSNESS OF LIFE AND HOW WE’RE JUST JUMPING FROM ONE DIMENSION TO THE NEXT I WOULD ACTUALLY GO CRAZY TOO.

No wonder they didn’t want to believe ghosts are human(ish) and they can feel emotions and stuff. It’s a lot to deal with

Beast Boy’s powers would be so much funnier if he didn’t turn green. imagine u live in teen titans tower & one day there’s a pigeon sitting on the breakfast table. it’s probably just beast boy. probably. but it just sits there pecking at cereal and you’re left grappling w/ the suspicion that someone left the window open again

Damn, he just like me for real